Wanninkhof Rik

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Wanninkhof
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  • Article
    Correction to “Using altimetry to help explain patchy changes in hydrographic carbon measurements”
    (American Geophysical Union, 2009-12-09) Rodgers, Keith B. ; Key, Robert M. ; Gnanadesikan, Anand ; Sarmiento, Jorge L. ; Aumont, Olivier ; Bopp, Laurent ; Doney, Scott C. ; Dunne, John P. ; Glover, David M. ; Ishida, Akio ; Ishii, Masao ; Jacobson, Andrew R. ; Monaco, Claire Lo ; Maier-Reimer, Ernst ; Mercier, Herlé ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Perez, Fiz F. ; Rios, Aida F. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Wetzel, Patrick ; Winn, Christopher D. ; Yamanaka, Yasuhiro
  • Article
    Air-sea CO2 exchange in the equatorial Pacific
    (American Geophysical Union, 2004-08-28) McGillis, Wade R. ; Edson, James B. ; Zappa, Christopher J. ; Ware, Jonathan D. ; McKenna, Sean P. ; Terray, Eugene A. ; Hare, Jeffrey E. ; Fairall, Christopher W. ; Drennan, William M. ; Donelan, Mark A. ; DeGrandpre, Michael D. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Feely, Richard A.
    GasEx-2001, a 15-day air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) exchange study conducted in the equatorial Pacific, used a combination of ships, buoys, and drifters equipped with ocean and atmospheric sensors to assess variability and surface mechanisms controlling air-sea CO2 fluxes. Direct covariance and profile method air-sea CO2 fluxes were measured together with the surface ocean and marine boundary layer processes. The study took place in February 2001 near 125°W, 3°S in a region of high CO2. The diurnal variation in the air-sea CO2 difference was 2.5%, driven predominantly by temperature effects on surface solubility. The wind speed was 6.0 ± 1.3 m s−1, and the atmospheric boundary layer was unstable with conditions over the range −1 < z/L < 0. Diurnal heat fluxes generated daytime surface ocean stratification and subsequent large nighttime buoyancy fluxes. The average CO2 flux from the ocean to the atmosphere was determined to be 3.9 mol m−2 yr−1, with nighttime CO2 fluxes increasing by 40% over daytime values because of a strong nighttime increase in (vertical) convective velocities. The 15 days of air-sea flux measurements taken during GasEx-2001 demonstrate some of the systematic environmental trends of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. The fact that other physical processes, in addition to wind, were observed to control the rate of CO2 transfer from the ocean to the atmosphere indicates that these processes need to be taken into account in local and global biogeochemical models. These local processes can vary on regional and global scales. The GasEx-2001 results show a weak wind dependence but a strong variability in processes governed by the diurnal heating cycle. This implies that any changes in the incident radiation, including atmospheric cloud dynamics, phytoplankton biomass, and surface ocean stratification may have significant feedbacks on the amount and variability of air-sea gas exchange. This is in sharp contrast with previous field studies of air-sea gas exchange, which showed that wind was the dominating forcing function. The results suggest that gas transfer parameterizations that rely solely on wind will be insufficient for regions with low to intermediate winds and strong insolation.
  • Article
    Changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation influence CO2 uptake in the North Atlantic over the past 2 decades
    (American Geophysical Union, 2008-12-31) Thomas, Helmuth ; Prowe, A. E. Friederike ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Greatbatch, Richard J. ; Schuster, Ute ; Corbiere, Antoine
    Observational studies report a rapid decline of ocean CO2 uptake in the temperate North Atlantic during the last decade. We analyze these findings using ocean physical-biological numerical simulations forced with interannually varying atmospheric conditions for the period 1979–2004. In the simulations, surface ocean water mass properties and CO2 system variables exhibit substantial multiannual variability on sub-basin scales in response to wind-driven reorganization in ocean circulation and surface warming/cooling. The simulated temporal evolution of the ocean CO2 system is broadly consistent with reported observational trends and is influenced substantially by the phase of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). Many of the observational estimates cover a period after 1995 of mostly negative or weakly positive NAO conditions, which are characterized in the simulations by reduced North Atlantic Current transport of subtropical waters into the eastern basin and by a decline in CO2 uptake. We suggest therefore that air-sea CO2 uptake may rebound in the eastern temperate North Atlantic during future periods of more positive NAO, similar to the patterns found in our model for the sustained positive NAO period in the early 1990s. Thus, our analysis indicates that the recent rapid shifts in CO2 flux reflect decadal perturbations superimposed on more gradual secular trends. The simulations highlight the need for long-term ocean carbon observations and modeling to fully resolve multiannual variability, which can obscure detection of the long-term changes associated with anthropogenic CO2 uptake and climate change.
  • Article
    The impact of the North Atlantic Oscillation on the uptake and accumulation of anthropogenic CO2 by North Atlantic Ocean mode waters
    (American Geophysical Union, 2011-09-21) Levine, Naomi M. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Bates, Nicholas R. ; Feely, Richard A.
    The North Atlantic Ocean accounts for about 25% of the global oceanic anthropogenic carbon sink. This basin experiences significant interannual variability primarily driven by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). A suite of biogeochemical model simulations is used to analyze the impact of interannual variability on the uptake and storage of contemporary and anthropogenic carbon (Canthro) in the North Atlantic Ocean. Greater winter mixing during positive NAO years results in increased mode water formation and subsequent increases in subtropical and subpolar Canthro inventories. Our analysis suggests that changes in mode water Canthro inventories are primarily due to changes in water mass volumes driven by variations in water mass transformation rates rather than local air-sea CO2 exchange. This suggests that a significant portion of anthropogenic carbon found in the ocean interior may be derived from surface waters advected into water formation regions rather than from local gas exchange. Therefore, changes in climate modes, such as the NAO, may alter the residence time of anthropogenic carbon in the ocean by altering the rate of water mass transformation. In addition, interannual variability in Canthro storage increases the difficulty of Canthro detection and attribution through hydrographic observations, which are limited by sparse sampling of subsurface waters in time and space.
  • Article
    The tropical Atlantic observing system
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-05-10) Foltz, Gregory R. ; Brandt, Peter ; Richter, Ingo ; Rodriguez-fonseca, Belen ; Hernandez, Fabrice ; Dengler, Marcus ; Rodrigues, Regina ; Schmidt, Jörn Oliver ; Yu, Lisan ; Lefevre, Nathalie ; Cotrim Da Cunha, Leticia ; McPhaden, Michael J. ; Araujo, Moacyr ; Karstensen, Johannes ; Hahn, Johannes ; Martín-Rey, Marta ; Patricola, Christina ; Poli, Paul ; Zuidema, Paquita ; Hummels, Rebecca ; Perez, Renellys ; Hatje, Vanessa ; Luebbecke, Joke ; Polo, Irene ; Lumpkin, Rick ; Bourlès, Bernard ; Asuquo, Francis Emile ; Lehodey, Patrick ; Conchon, Anna ; Chang, Ping ; Dandin, Philippe ; Schmid, Claudia ; Sutton, Adrienne J. ; Giordani, Hervé ; Xue, Yan ; Illig, Serena ; Losada, Teresa ; Grodsky, Semyon A. ; Gasparin, Florent ; Lee, Tong ; Mohino, Elsa ; Nobre, Paulo ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Keenlyside, Noel S. ; Garcon, Veronique Cameille ; Sanchez-Gomez, Emilia ; Nnamchi, Hyacinth ; Drevillon, Marie ; Storto, Andrea ; Remy, Elisabeth ; Lazar, Alban ; Speich, Sabrina ; Goes, Marlos Pereira ; Dorrington, Tarquin ; Johns, William E. ; Moum, James N. ; Robinson, Carol ; Perruche, Coralie ; de Souza, Ronald Buss ; Gaye, Amadou ; Lopez-Parages, Jorge ; Monerie, Paul-Arthur ; Castellanos, Paola ; Benson, Nsikak U. ; Hounkonnou, Mahouton Norbert ; Trotte Duha, Janice ; Laxenaire, Rémi ; Reul, Nicolas
    he tropical Atlantic is home to multiple coupled climate variations covering a wide range of timescales and impacting societally relevant phenomena such as continental rainfall, Atlantic hurricane activity, oceanic biological productivity, and atmospheric circulation in the equatorial Pacific. The tropical Atlantic also connects the southern and northern branches of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and receives freshwater input from some of the world’s largest rivers. To address these diverse, unique, and interconnected research challenges, a rich network of ocean observations has developed, building on the backbone of the Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA). This network has evolved naturally over time and out of necessity in order to address the most important outstanding scientific questions and to improve predictions of tropical Atlantic severe weather and global climate variability and change. The tropical Atlantic observing system is motivated by goals to understand and better predict phenomena such as tropical Atlantic interannual to decadal variability and climate change; multidecadal variability and its links to the meridional overturning circulation; air-sea fluxes of CO2 and their implications for the fate of anthropogenic CO2; the Amazon River plume and its interactions with biogeochemistry, vertical mixing, and hurricanes; the highly productive eastern boundary and equatorial upwelling systems; and oceanic oxygen minimum zones, their impacts on biogeochemical cycles and marine ecosystems, and their feedbacks to climate. Past success of the tropical Atlantic observing system is the result of an international commitment to sustained observations and scientific cooperation, a willingness to evolve with changing research and monitoring needs, and a desire to share data openly with the scientific community and operational centers. The observing system must continue to evolve in order to meet an expanding set of research priorities and operational challenges. This paper discusses the tropical Atlantic observing system, including emerging scientific questions that demand sustained ocean observations, the potential for further integration of the observing system, and the requirements for sustaining and enhancing the tropical Atlantic observing system.
  • Article
    Impact of ocean carbon system variability on the detection of temporal increases in anthropogenic CO2
    (American Geophysical Union, 2008-03-19) Levine, Naomi M. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Lindsay, Keith ; Fung, Inez Y.
    Estimates of temporal trends in oceanic anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) rely on the ability of empirical methods to remove the large natural variability of the ocean carbon system. A coupled carbon-climate model is used to evaluate these empirical methods. Both the ΔC* and multiple linear regression (MLR) techniques reproduce the predicted increase in dissolved inorganic carbon for the majority of the ocean and have similar average percent errors for decadal differences (24.1% and 25.5%, respectively). However, this study identifies several regions where these methods may introduce errors. Of particular note are mode and deep water formation regions, where changes in air-sea disequilibrium and structure in the MLR residuals introduce errors. These results have significant implications for decadal repeat hydrography programs, indicating the need for subannual sampling in certain regions of the oceans in order to better constrain the natural variability in the system and to robustly estimate the intrusion of anthropogenic CO2.
  • Article
    Biases in the air-sea flux of CO2 resulting from ocean surface temperature gradients
    (American Geophysical Union, 2004-06-30) Ward, Brian ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; McGillis, Wade R. ; Jessup, Andrew T. ; DeGrandpre, Michael D. ; Hare, Jeffrey E. ; Edson, James B.
    The difference in the fugacities of CO2 across the diffusive sublayer at the ocean surface is the driving force behind the air-sea flux of CO2. Bulk seawater fugacity is normally measured several meters below the surface, while the fugacity at the water surface, assumed to be in equilibrium with the atmosphere, is measured several meters above the surface. Implied in these measurements is that the fugacity values are the same as those across the diffusive boundary layer. However, temperature gradients exist at the interface due to molecular transfer processes, resulting in a cool surface temperature, known as the skin effect. A warm layer from solar radiation can also result in a heterogeneous temperature profile within the upper few meters of the ocean. Here we describe measurements carried out during a 14-day study in the equatorial Pacific Ocean (GasEx-2001) aimed at estimating the gradients of CO2 near the surface and resulting flux anomalies. The fugacity measurements were corrected for temperature effects using data from the ship's thermosalinograph, a high-resolution profiler (SkinDeEP), an infrared radiometer (CIRIMS), and several point measurements at different depths on various platforms. Results from SkinDeEP show that the largest cool skin and warm layer biases occur at low winds, with maximum biases of −4% and +4%, respectively. Time series ship data show an average CO2 flux cool skin retardation of about 2%. Ship and drifter data show significant CO2 flux enhancement due to the warm layer, with maximums occurring in the afternoon. Temperature measurements were compared to predictions based on available cool skin parameterizations to predict the skin-bulk temperature difference, along with a warm layer model.
  • Book chapter
    Global Oceans [in “State of the Climate in 2020”]
    (American Meteorological Society, 2021-08-01) Johnson, Gregory C. ; Lumpkin, Rick ; Alin, Simone R. ; Amaya, Dillon J. ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Boyer, Tim ; Brandt, Peter ; Carter, Brendan ; Cetinić, Ivona ; Chambers, Don P. ; Cheng, Lijing ; Collins, Andrew U. ; Cosca, Cathy ; Domingues, Ricardo ; Dong, Shenfu ; Feely, Richard A. ; Frajka-Williams, Eleanor E. ; Franz, Bryan A. ; Gilson, John ; Goni, Gustavo J. ; Hamlington, Benjamin D. ; Herrford, Josefine ; Hu, Zeng-Zhen ; Huang, Boyin ; Ishii, Masayoshi ; Jevrejeva, Svetlana ; Kennedy, John J. ; Kersalé, Marion ; Killick, Rachel E. ; Landschützer, Peter ; Lankhorst, Matthias ; Leuliette, Eric ; Locarnini, Ricardo ; Lyman, John ; Marra, John F. ; Meinen, Christopher S. ; Merrifield, Mark ; Mitchum, Gary ; Moat, Bengamin I. ; Nerem, R. Steven ; Perez, Renellys ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Reagan, James ; Sanchez-Franks, Alejandra ; Scannell, Hillary A. ; Schmid, Claudia ; Scott, Joel P. ; Siegel, David A. ; Smeed, David A. ; Stackhouse, Paul W. ; Sweet, William V. ; Thompson, Philip R. ; Trinanes, Joaquin ; Volkov, Denis L. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Weller, Robert A. ; Wen, Caihong ; Westberry, Toby K. ; Widlansky, Matthew J. ; Wilber, Anne C. ; Yu, Lisan ; Zhang, Huai-Min
    This chapter details 2020 global patterns in select observed oceanic physical, chemical, and biological variables relative to long-term climatologies, their differences between 2020 and 2019, and puts 2020 observations in the context of the historical record. In this overview we address a few of the highlights, first in haiku, then paragraph form: La Niña arrives, shifts winds, rain, heat, salt, carbon: Pacific—beyond. Global ocean conditions in 2020 reflected a transition from an El Niño in 2018–19 to a La Niña in late 2020. Pacific trade winds strengthened in 2020 relative to 2019, driving anomalously westward Pacific equatorial surface currents. Sea surface temperatures (SSTs), upper ocean heat content, and sea surface height all fell in the eastern tropical Pacific and rose in the western tropical Pacific. Efflux of carbon dioxide from ocean to atmosphere was larger than average across much of the equatorial Pacific, and both chlorophyll-a and phytoplankton carbon concentrations were elevated across the tropical Pacific. Less rain fell and more water evaporated in the western equatorial Pacific, consonant with increased sea surface salinity (SSS) there. SSS may also have increased as a result of anomalously westward surface currents advecting salty water from the east. El Niño–Southern Oscillation conditions have global ramifications that reverberate throughout the report.
  • Article
    Detecting anthropogenic CO2 changes in the interior Atlantic Ocean between 1989 and 2005
    (American Geophysical Union, 2010-11-30) Wanninkhof, Rik ; Doney, Scott C. ; Bullister, John L. ; Levine, Naomi M. ; Warner, Mark J. ; Gruber, Nicolas
    Repeat observations along the meridional Atlantic section A16 from Iceland to 56°S show substantial changes in the total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentrations in the ocean between occupations from 1989 through 2005. The changes correspond to the expected increase in DIC driven by the uptake of anthropogenic CO2 from the atmosphere, but the ΔDIC is more varied and larger, in some locations, than can be explained solely by this process. Concomitant large changes in oxygen (O2) suggest that processes acting on the natural carbon cycle also contribute to ΔDIC. Precise partial pressure of CO2 measurements suggest small but systematic increases in the bottom waters. To isolate the anthropogenic CO2 component (ΔCanthro) from ΔDIC, an extended multilinear regression approach is applied along isopycnal surfaces. This yields an average depth-integrated ΔCanthro of 0.53 ± 0.05 mol m−2 yr−1 with maximum values in the temperate zones of both hemispheres and a minimum in the tropical Atlantic. A higher decadal increase in the anthropogenic CO2 inventory is found for the South Atlantic compared to the North Atlantic. This anthropogenic CO2 accumulation pattern is opposite to that seen for the entire Anthropocene up to the 1990s. This change could perhaps be a consequence of the reduced downward transport of anthropogenic CO2 in the North Atlantic due to recent climate variability. Extrapolating the results for this section to the entire Atlantic basin (63°N to 56°S) yields an uptake of 5 ± 1 Pg C decade−1, which corresponds to about 25% of the annual global ocean uptake of anthropogenic CO2 during this period.
  • Article
    Global ocean carbon uptake : magnitude, variability and trends
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2013-03-22) Wanninkhof, Rik ; Park, Geun-Ha ; Takahashi, Taro ; Sweeney, Colm ; Feely, Richard A. ; Nojiri, Yukihiro ; Gruber, Nicolas ; Doney, Scott C. ; McKinley, Galen A. ; Lenton, Andrew ; Le Quere, Corinne ; Heinze, Christoph ; Schwinger, Jorg ; Graven, Heather ; Khatiwala, Samar
    The globally integrated sea–air anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) flux from 1990 to 2009 is determined from models and data-based approaches as part of the Regional Carbon Cycle Assessment and Processes (RECCAP) project. Numerical methods include ocean inverse models, atmospheric inverse models, and ocean general circulation models with parameterized biogeochemistry (OBGCMs). The median value of different approaches shows good agreement in average uptake. The best estimate of anthropogenic CO2 uptake for the time period based on a compilation of approaches is −2.0 Pg C yr−1. The interannual variability in the sea–air flux is largely driven by large-scale climate re-organizations and is estimated at 0.2 Pg C yr−1 for the two decades with some systematic differences between approaches. The largest differences between approaches are seen in the decadal trends. The trends range from −0.13 (Pg C yr−1) decade−1 to −0.50 (Pg C yr−1) decade−1 for the two decades under investigation. The OBGCMs and the data-based sea–air CO2 flux estimates show appreciably smaller decadal trends than estimates based on changes in carbon inventory suggesting that methods capable of resolving shorter timescales are showing a slowing of the rate of ocean CO2 uptake. RECCAP model outputs for five decades show similar differences in trends between approaches.
  • Article
    On the future of Argo: A global, full-depth, multi-disciplinary array
    (Frontiers Media, 2019-08-02) Roemmich, Dean ; Alford, Matthew H. ; Claustre, Hervé ; Johnson, Kenneth S. ; King, Brian ; Moum, James N. ; Oke, Peter ; Owens, W. Brechner ; Pouliquen, Sylvie ; Purkey, Sarah G. ; Scanderbeg, Megan ; Suga, Koushirou ; Wijffels, Susan E. ; Zilberman, Nathalie ; Bakker, Dorothee ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Belbeoch, Mathieu ; Bittig, Henry C. ; Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Calil, Paulo H. R. ; Carse, Fiona ; Carval, Thierry ; Chai, Fei ; Conchubhair, Diarmuid Ó. ; d’Ortenzio, Fabrizio ; Dall'Olmo, Giorgio ; Desbruyeres, Damien ; Fennel, Katja ; Fer, Ilker ; Ferrari, Raffaele ; Forget, Gael ; Freeland, Howard ; Fujiki, Tetsuichi ; Gehlen, Marion ; Geenan, Blair ; Hallberg, Robert ; Hibiya, Toshiyuki ; Hosoda, Shigeki ; Jayne, Steven R. ; Jochum, Markus ; Johnson, Gregory C. ; Kang, KiRyong ; Kolodziejczyk, Nicolas ; Körtzinger, Arne ; Le Traon, Pierre-Yves ; Lenn, Yueng-Djern ; Maze, Guillaume ; Mork, Kjell Arne ; Morris, Tamaryn ; Nagai, Takeyoshi ; Nash, Jonathan D. ; Naveira Garabato, Alberto C. ; Olsen, Are ; Pattabhi Rama Rao, Eluri ; Prakash, Satya ; Riser, Stephen C. ; Schmechtig, Catherine ; Schmid, Claudia ; Shroyer, Emily L. ; Sterl, Andreas ; Sutton, Philip J. H. ; Talley, Lynne D. ; Tanhua, Toste ; Thierry, Virginie ; Thomalla, Sandy J. ; Toole, John M. ; Troisi, Ariel ; Trull, Thomas W. ; Turton, Jon ; Velez-Belchi, Pedro ; Walczowski, Waldemar ; Wang, Haili ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Waterhouse, Amy F. ; Waterman, Stephanie N. ; Watson, Andrew J. ; Wilson, Cara ; Wong, Annie P. S. ; Xu, Jianping ; Yasuda, Ichiro
    The Argo Program has been implemented and sustained for almost two decades, as a global array of about 4000 profiling floats. Argo provides continuous observations of ocean temperature and salinity versus pressure, from the sea surface to 2000 dbar. The successful installation of the Argo array and its innovative data management system arose opportunistically from the combination of great scientific need and technological innovation. Through the data system, Argo provides fundamental physical observations with broad societally-valuable applications, built on the cost-efficient and robust technologies of autonomous profiling floats. Following recent advances in platform and sensor technologies, even greater opportunity exists now than 20 years ago to (i) improve Argo’s global coverage and value beyond the original design, (ii) extend Argo to span the full ocean depth, (iii) add biogeochemical sensors for improved understanding of oceanic cycles of carbon, nutrients, and ecosystems, and (iv) consider experimental sensors that might be included in the future, for example to document the spatial and temporal patterns of ocean mixing. For Core Argo and each of these enhancements, the past, present, and future progression along a path from experimental deployments to regional pilot arrays to global implementation is described. The objective is to create a fully global, top-to-bottom, dynamically complete, and multidisciplinary Argo Program that will integrate seamlessly with satellite and with other in situ elements of the Global Ocean Observing System (Legler et al., 2015). The integrated system will deliver operational reanalysis and forecasting capability, and assessment of the state and variability of the climate system with respect to physical, biogeochemical, and ecosystems parameters. It will enable basic research of unprecedented breadth and magnitude, and a wealth of ocean-education and outreach opportunities.
  • Article
    Air-sea CO2 flux in the Pacific Ocean for the period 1990–2009
    (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2014-02-06) Ishii, Masao ; Feely, Richard A. ; Rodgers, Keith B. ; Park, Geun-Ha ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Sasano, D. ; Sugimoto, H. ; Cosca, Catherine E. ; Nakaoka, Shin-ichiro ; Telszewski, Maciej ; Nojiri, Yukihiro ; Mikaloff Fletcher, Sara E. ; Niwa, Y. ; Patra, Prabir K. ; Valsala, V. ; Nakano, Hideyuki ; Lima, Ivan D. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Buitenhuis, Erik T. ; Aumont, Olivier ; Dunne, John P. ; Lenton, Andrew ; Takahashi, Taro
    Air–sea CO2 fluxes over the Pacific Ocean are known to be characterized by coherent large-scale structures that reflect not only ocean subduction and upwelling patterns, but also the combined effects of wind-driven gas exchange and biology. On the largest scales, a large net CO2 influx into the extratropics is associated with a robust seasonal cycle, and a large net CO2 efflux from the tropics is associated with substantial interannual variability. In this work, we have synthesized estimates of the net air–sea CO2 flux from a variety of products, drawing upon a variety of approaches in three sub-basins of the Pacific Ocean, i.e., the North Pacific extratropics (18–66° N), the tropical Pacific (18° S–18° N), and the South Pacific extratropics (44.5–18° S). These approaches include those based on the measurements of CO2 partial pressure in surface seawater (pCO2sw), inversions of ocean-interior CO2 data, forward ocean biogeochemistry models embedded in the ocean general circulation models (OBGCMs), a model with assimilation of pCO2sw data, and inversions of atmospheric CO2 measurements. Long-term means, interannual variations and mean seasonal variations of the regionally integrated fluxes were compared in each of the sub-basins over the last two decades, spanning the period from 1990 through 2009. A simple average of the long-term mean fluxes obtained with surface water pCO2 diagnostics and those obtained with ocean-interior CO2 inversions are −0.47 ± 0.13 Pg C yr−1 in the North Pacific extratropics, +0.44 ± 0.14 Pg C yr−1 in the tropical Pacific, and −0.37 ± 0.08 Pg C yr−1 in the South Pacific extratropics, where positive fluxes are into the atmosphere. This suggests that approximately half of the CO2 taken up over the North and South Pacific extratropics is released back to the atmosphere from the tropical Pacific. These estimates of the regional fluxes are also supported by the estimates from OBGCMs after adding the riverine CO2 flux, i.e., −0.49 ± 0.02 Pg C yr−1 in the North Pacific extratropics, +0.41 ± 0.05 Pg C yr−1 in the tropical Pacific, and −0.39 ± 0.11 Pg C yr−1 in the South Pacific extratropics. The estimates from the atmospheric CO2 inversions show large variations amongst different inversion systems, but their median fluxes are consistent with the estimates from climatological pCO2sw data and pCO2sw diagnostics. In the South Pacific extratropics, where CO2 variations in the surface and ocean interior are severely undersampled, the difference in the air–sea CO2 flux estimates between the diagnostic models and ocean-interior CO2 inversions is larger (0.18 Pg C yr−1). The range of estimates from forward OBGCMs is also large (−0.19 to −0.72 Pg C yr−1). Regarding interannual variability of air–sea CO2 fluxes, positive and negative anomalies are evident in the tropical Pacific during the cold and warm events of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation in the estimates from pCO2sw diagnostic models and from OBGCMs. They are consistent in phase with the Southern Oscillation Index, but the peak-to-peak amplitudes tend to be higher in OBGCMs (0.40 ± 0.09 Pg C yr−1) than in the diagnostic models (0.27 ± 0.07 Pg C yr−1).
  • Article
    The marine inorganic carbon system along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts of the United States : insights from a transregional coastal carbon study
    (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, 2013-01) Wang, Zhaohui Aleck ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Cai, Wei-Jun ; Byrne, Robert H. ; Hu, Xinping ; Peng, Tsung-Hung ; Huang, Wei-Jen
    Distributions of total alkalinity (TA), dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and other parameters relevant to the marine inorganic carbon system were investigated in shelf and adjacent ocean waters during a U.S. Gulf of Mexico and East Coast Carbon cruise in July–August 2007. TA exhibited near-conservative behavior with respect to salinity. Shelf concentrations were generally high in southern waters (Gulf of Mexico and East Florida) and decreased northward from Georgia to the Gulf of Maine. DIC was less variable geographically and exhibited strongly nonconservative behavior. As a result, the ratio of TA to DIC generally decreased northward. The spatial patterns of other CO2 system parameters closely followed those of the TA : DIC ratio. All sampled shelf waters were supersaturated with respect to aragonite (saturation state ΩA > 1). The most intensely buffered and supersaturated waters (ΩA > 5.0) were in northern Gulf of Mexico river-plume waters; the least intensely buffered and least supersaturated waters (ΩA < 1.3) were in the deep Gulf of Maine. Due to their relatively low pH, ΩA, and buffer intensity, waters of the northeastern U.S. shelves may be more susceptible to acidification pressures than are their southern counterparts. In the Mid-Atlantic Bight, alongshore mixing tended to increase DIC concentrations southward, but this effect was largely offset by the opposing effects of biogeochemical processing. In the Gulf of Mexico, downstream increases in Loop Current DIC suggested significant contributions from shelf and gulf waters, estimated at 9.1 × 109 mol C d−1. Off the southeastern U.S., along-flow chemical changes in the Florida Current were dominated by mixing associated with North Atlantic subtropical recirculation.
  • Article
    Changes in deep-water CO2 concentrations over the last several decades determined from discrete pCO2 measurements
    (Elsevier Ltd, 2013-02-09) Wanninkhof, Rik ; Park, Geun-Ha ; Takahashi, Taro ; Feely, Richard A. ; Bullister, John L. ; Doney, Scott C.
    Detection and attribution of hydrographic and biogeochemical changes in the deep ocean are challenging due to the small magnitude of their signals and to limitations in the accuracy of available data. However, there are indications that anthropogenic and climate change signals are starting to manifest at depth. The deep ocean below 2000 m comprises about 50% of the total ocean volume, and changes in the deep ocean should be followed over time to accurately assess the partitioning of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) between the ocean, terrestrial biosphere, and atmosphere. Here we determine the changes in the interior deep-water inorganic carbon content by a novel means that uses the partial pressure of CO2 measured at 20 °C, pCO2(20), along three meridional transects in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. These changes are measured on decadal time scales using observations from the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE)/World Hydrographic Program (WHP) of the 1980s and 1990s and the CLIVAR/CO2 Repeat Hydrography Program of the past decade. The pCO2(20) values show a consistent increase in deep water over the time period. Changes in total dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) content in the deep interior are not significant or consistent, as most of the signal is below the level of analytical uncertainty. Using an approximate relationship between pCO2(20) and DIC change, we infer DIC changes that are at the margin of detectability. However, when integrated on the basin scale, the increases range from 8–40% of the total specific water column changes over the past several decades. Patterns in chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), along with output from an ocean model, suggest that the changes in pCO2(20) and DIC are of anthropogenic origin.
  • Article
    Evaluation of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Coupled-Ocean Atmospheric Response Experiment (NOAA/COARE) air-sea gas transfer parameterization using GasEx data
    (American Geophysical Union, 2004-07-16) Hare, Jeffrey E. ; Fairall, Christopher W. ; McGillis, Wade R. ; Edson, James B. ; Ward, Brian ; Wanninkhof, Rik
    During the two recent GasEx field experiments, direct covariance measurements of air-sea carbon dioxide fluxes were obtained over the open ocean. Concurrently, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Coupled-Ocean Atmospheric Response Experiment air-sea gas transfer parameterization was developed to predict gas transfer velocities from measurements of the bulk state of the sea surface and atmosphere. The model output is combined with measurements of the mean air and sea surface carbon dioxide fugacities to provide estimates of the air-sea CO2 flux, and the model is then tuned to the GasEx-1998 data set. Because of differences in the local environment and possibly because of weaknesses in the model, some discrepancies are observed between the predicted fluxes from the GasEx-1998 and GasEx-2001 cases. To provide an estimate of the contribution to the air-sea flux of gas due to wave-breaking processes, the whitecap and bubble parameterizations are removed from the model output. These results show that moderate (approximately 15 m s−1) wind speed breaking wave gas transfer processes account for a fourfold increase in the flux over the modeled interfacial processes.
  • Article
    Impacts of temporal CO2 and climate trends on the detection of ocean anthropogenic CO2 accumulation
    (American Geophysical Union, 2011-09-21) Goodkin, Nathalie F. ; Levine, Naomi M. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Wanninkhof, Rik
    A common approach for estimating the oceanic uptake of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (Canthro) depends on the linear approximation of oceanic dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) from a suite of physical and biological ocean parameters. The extended multiple linear regression (eMLR) method assumes that baseline correlations and the resulting residual fields will remain constant with time even under the influence of secular climate changes. The validity of these assumptions over the 21st century is tested using a coupled carbon-climate model. Findings demonstrate that the influence of both changing climate and changing chemistry beyond 2–4 decades invalidates the assumption that the residual fields will remain constant resulting in significant errors in the eMLR estimate of Canthro. This study determines that the eMLR method is unable to describe Canthro uptake for a sampling interval of greater than 30 years if the error is to remain below 20% for many regions in the Southern Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and western Pacific Ocean. These results suggest that, for many regions of the ocean basins, hydrographic field investigations have to be repeated at approximately decadal timescales in order to accurately predict the uptake of Canthro by the ocean if the eMLR method is used.
  • Article
    Using altimetry to help explain patchy changes in hydrographic carbon measurements
    (American Geophysical Union, 2009-09-18) Rodgers, Keith B. ; Key, Robert M. ; Gnanadesikan, Anand ; Sarmiento, Jorge L. ; Aumont, Olivier ; Bopp, Laurent ; Doney, Scott C. ; Dunne, John P. ; Glover, David M. ; Ishida, Akio ; Ishii, Masao ; Jacobson, Andrew R. ; Monaco, Claire Lo ; Maier-Reimer, Ernst ; Mercier, Herlé ; Metzl, Nicolas ; Perez, Fiz F. ; Rios, Aida F. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Wetzel, Patrick ; Winn, Christopher D. ; Yamanaka, Yasuhiro
    Here we use observations and ocean models to identify mechanisms driving large seasonal to interannual variations in dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and dissolved oxygen (O2) in the upper ocean. We begin with observations linking variations in upper ocean DIC and O2 inventories with changes in the physical state of the ocean. Models are subsequently used to address the extent to which the relationships derived from short-timescale (6 months to 2 years) repeat measurements are representative of variations over larger spatial and temporal scales. The main new result is that convergence and divergence (column stretching) attributed to baroclinic Rossby waves can make a first-order contribution to DIC and O2 variability in the upper ocean. This results in a close correspondence between natural variations in DIC and O2 column inventory variations and sea surface height (SSH) variations over much of the ocean. Oceanic Rossby wave activity is an intrinsic part of the natural variability in the climate system and is elevated even in the absence of significant interannual variability in climate mode indices. The close correspondence between SSH and both DIC and O2 column inventories for many regions suggests that SSH changes (inferred from satellite altimetry) may prove useful in reducing uncertainty in separating natural and anthropogenic DIC signals (using measurements from Climate Variability and Predictability's CO2/Repeat Hydrography program).
  • Article
    Recommendations for plankton measurements on OceanSITES moorings with relevance to other observing sites
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-07-22) Boss, Emmanuel S. ; Waite, Anya M. ; Karstensen, Johannes ; Trull, Thomas W. ; Muller-Karger, Frank E. ; Sosik, Heidi M. ; Uitz, Julia ; Acinas, Silvia G. ; Fennel, Katja ; Berman-Frank, Ilana ; Thomalla, Sandy J. ; Yamazaki, Hidekatsu ; Batten, Sonia ; Gregori, Gerald ; Richardson, Anthony J. ; Wanninkhof, Rik
    Measuring plankton and associated variables as part of ocean time-series stations has the potential to revolutionize our understanding of ocean biology and ecology and their ties to ocean biogeochemistry. It will open temporal scales (e.g., resolving diel cycles) not typically sampled as a function of depth. In this review we motivate the addition of biological measurements to time-series sites by detailing science questions they could help address, reviewing existing technology that could be deployed, and providing examples of time-series sites already deploying some of those technologies. We consider here the opportunities that exist through global coordination within the OceanSITES network for long-term (climate) time series station in the open ocean. Especially with respect to data management, global solutions are needed as these are critical to maximize the utility of such data. We conclude by providing recommendations for an implementation plan.
  • Preprint
    Changes in ocean heat, carbon content, and ventilation : a review of the first decade of GO-SHIP Global Repeat Hydrography
    ( 2015-05-30) Talley, Lynne D. ; Feely, Richard A. ; Sloyan, Bernadette M. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Baringer, Molly O. ; Bullister, John L. ; Carlson, Craig A. ; Doney, Scott C. ; Fine, Rana A. ; Firing, Eric ; Gruber, Nicolas ; Hansell, Dennis A. ; Ishii, Masayoshi ; Johnson, Gregory ; Katsumata, K. ; Key, Robert M. ; Kramp, Martin ; Langdon, Chris ; Macdonald, Alison M. ; Mathis, Jeremy T. ; McDonagh, Elaine L. ; Mecking, Sabine ; Millero, Frank J. ; Mordy, Calvin W. ; Nakano, T. ; Sabine, Chris L. ; Smethie, William M. ; Swift, James H. ; Tanhua, Toste ; Thurnherr, Andreas M. ; Warner, Mark J. ; Zhang, Jia-Zhong
    The ocean, a central component of Earth’s climate system, is changing. Given the global scope of these changes, highly accurate measurements of physical and biogeochemical properties need to be conducted over the full water column, spanning the ocean basins from coast to coast, and repeated every decade at a minimum, with a ship-based observing system. Since the late 1970s, when the Geochemical Ocean Sections Study (GEOSECS) conducted the first global survey of this kind, the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and Joint Global Ocean Flux Study (JGOFS), and now the Global Ocean Ship-based Hydrographic Investigations Program (GO-SHIP) have collected these “reference standard” data that allow quantification of ocean heat and carbon uptake, and variations in salinity, oxygen, nutrients, and acidity on basin scales. The evolving GO-SHIP measurement suite also provides new global information about dissolved organic carbon, a large bioactive reservoir of carbon.
  • Article
    Variability and trends in surface seawater pCO2 and CO2 flux in the Pacific Ocean
    (John Wiley & Sons, 2017-06-12) Sutton, Adrienne J. ; Wanninkhof, Rik ; Sabine, Christopher L. ; Feely, Richard A. ; Cronin, Meghan F. ; Weller, Robert A.
    Variability and change in the ocean sink of anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) have implications for future climate and ocean acidification. Measurements of surface seawater CO2 partial pressure (pCO2) and wind speed from moored platforms are used to calculate high-resolution CO2 flux time series. Here we use the moored CO2 fluxes to examine variability and its drivers over a range of time scales at four locations in the Pacific Ocean. There are significant surface seawater pCO2, salinity, and wind speed trends in the North Pacific subtropical gyre, especially during winter and spring, which reduce CO2 uptake over the 10 year record of this study. Starting in late 2013, elevated seawater pCO2 values driven by warm anomalies cause this region to be a net annual CO2 source for the first time in the observational record, demonstrating how climate forcing can influence the timing of an ocean region shift from CO2 sink to source.